In general, sounds can be monophonic or polyphonic. Monophonic sounds emanate from a single voice. Examples of instruments that produce a monophonic sound are a singer's voice, a clarinet, and a trumpet. Polyphonic sounds emanate from groups of voices. For example, a guitar can create a polyphonic sound if a player excites multiple strings to form a chord. Other examples of instruments that can create a polyphonic sound include a chorus of singers, or a quartet of stringed instruments.
Known methods can analyze a monophonic sound, such as indicating tuning for a single guitar string or providing teaching playback assessment, such as timing and pitch errors, for a monophonic instrument played along with a reference track.
However, current methods do not detect notes within a polyphonic sound, for example, to allow the tuning of all strings of a guitar with a single strum or provide teaching playback assessment for polyphonic sounds, such as guitar chords, played along with a reference track. Therefore, users could benefit from an improved method and system for detecting individual notes in a polyphonic sound such as a strummed guitar chord.